Chrome Tech Tip for Writers and Editors: Pin Tabs

Note: If this post seems out of place here, it’s because I’ve decided to blog about writing and editing in the same place where I blog about tarot and divination. I don’t need the stress and complications of keeping track of more than one site. I need the simplicity of everything being in one place. I will tag and categorize posts appropriately so you can find what you are looking for.

I’ve resigned myself to using evil Chrome, because many of my writing and editing clients need me to use Google Docs–and yes, of course you don’t have to use Google Docs in Chrome, but I often find it easier to do so.

One thing I do appreciate about Chrome is that I can use the Great Suspender app to suspend tabs that aren’t current, which is a huge memory (computer memory) saver for me, because I normally keep tons of tabs open. I love that they can be suspended and that I can just reload them when I’m ready to return to the tab. But this has also created a problem, because I edit for Wordy, and Wordy’s tab needs to be active for me to receive notifications.

I turned to the Great Suspender’s options, and found that there’s an option not to suspend pinned tabs. Pinned tabs? You can pin tabs! I had to Google this.

Pinning tabs? Not with THESE pins!

Enter Tech Republic, which blogged about this very issue–although I think TR had in mind social media, not cash-strapped freelancers keeping an eye out for work. It turns out that you can pin a tab in Chrome by right clicking on it. (Right clicking also gives you the option to mute a tab that keeps playing commercials to you, or close all the other tabs except the one you’ve right clicked.) Thank you, Tech Republic, for explaining this!

Although I used this feature to pin my Wordy tab, I can also envision it being handy for people who want to respond immediately to Twitter comments and who need Twitter to be active to notify them of comments, or for people who are working in collaborative documents and need to be able to receive those notifications. I’m sure you will run across uses of your own for this feature. Notifications are so annoying, but for those of us with ADHD, they’re a necessary evil. (Like Chrome itself!)

However, I don’t mean to sound like I’m promoting evil Chrome. It will follow you all over the Internet, invade your privacy, and generally hog your system resources. When I stopped using Chrome and then came back to it on a different computer, it still remembered my entire Internet history, including login details and passwords. I have basically resigned myself to selling my privacy to Google in order to use its tools, but you may not have reasons to do the same. Consider carefully before you make this choice!

If you have already reconciled yourself to evil Chrome, though, start right-clicking those tabs and see what useful options you find. 🙂 Even if you don’t use Chrome, you know that browser developers tend to all copy each other–so try this in Firefox, Opera, Maxthon, and dare I say it, Edge–maybe it works there too. Please feel free to comment below if you find that to be the case–or not.